1. Field of the Invention
This invention is related to the field of headlight systems for vehicles. More specifically, this invention is directed to a vehicle headlight system that improves visibility from the vehicle.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventional vehicle headlight systems include a variety of headlights that each provides similar amounts of illumination. When such a vehicle encounters reduced visibility conditions, such as in fog, the driver of a vehicle may only adjust the brightness of the entire headlight system.
Some conventional vehicle headlight systems include xe2x80x9cfog lampsxe2x80x9d that are positioned generally lower on the vehicle than the corresponding set of headlamps. Presumably, moving the source of illumination to a lower position reduces the amount of glare that a driver experiences when faced with fog or other conditions of reduced visibility. However, all of the conventional vehicle headlight systems place the source of illumination directly in front of the driver.
The inventor of the present invention discovered that a source of light that is offset from the line of sight of a driver provides increased visibility when compared to a light that is positioned substantially directly along the line of sight of a driver in reduced visibility conditions. The present invention provides a headlamp system for a vehicle where the majority of the illumination power is shifted transversely away from the line of sight of a driver. In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, a dual headlamp system of a conventional motor vehicle includes the ability to reduce the illumination of a driver side headlamp to reduce the amount of light being reflected back at the driver while maintaining the degree of illumination provided by the passenger side headlamp.